President Emerita M.R.C. Greenwood announces retirement from UH

UH President Emerita M.R.C. Greenwood has advised the University of Hawaiʻi of her intent to complete her retirement from UH effective June 30, 2014.

Upon stepping down from the UH presidency August 31, 2013, Greenwood went on leave without pay from her faculty position at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

“I deeply appreciated the university and the Board of Regents’ grant of a one year unpaid leave,” Greenwood commented. “However, after a period of rest and reflection, I have decided that I wish to pursue my writing and policy interests and that I prefer to remain on the mainland to do so.” She continued, “My years as the president of the University of Hawaiʻi were full of rewarding projects and accomplishments, so kindly acknowledged by the board and many others. I will always remember my fine colleagues and hold Hawaiʻi in my heart. I wish only the best for the university.”

Board of Regents Chair John Holzman highlighted the important work done across the state under Greenwood’s leadership. Holzman said, “During President Greenwood’s term we accommodated a 20 percent increase in enrollment under declining state support during the economic recession when the people of Hawaiʻi needed us most. At the same time, we built the UH Cancer Center and, after 40 years of waiting, UH West Oʻahu. We broke ground on long-need facilities at Pālamanui in West Hawaiʻi and collaborated for two of the most important telescopes in the world in Hawaiʻi, the Thirty Meter Telescope and the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.”

David Lassner, who will succeed Greenwood as president of the University of Hawaiʻi, said, “President Greenwood led us in developing the Hawaiʻi Graduation Initiative to meet the needs of Hawaiʻi for an educated citizenry and workforce, and the Hawaiʻi Innovation Initiative to build a new economic sector for the state, both of which remain on the regents’ agenda for the next president. While M.R.C. will not be with us in the islands, I know she will be looking after Hawaiʻi’s interests in her continuing work at the national level.”